Belize & Guatemala | August 2017 | Vacation

I just recently took a vacation to Central America. I really wanted to take a trip and I didn't have anyone to go with, so I went by myself, kind of. I signed up for a week and a half long trip with EF College Break. I didn't know any of the people that went on the trip. We are all from different parts of the country and our love for travel brought us all together. I did not take my camera on this trip and I honestly didn't miss lugging it around everywhere. I only used my phone and GoPro camera for these photos and videos. This trip was amazingly freeing and so much fun for me. I met so many awesome people. Two of which, I just clicked with and we became the Three Amigos. Ally and Amy were my roommates the first night and we were inseparable pretty much the rest of the trip. We are still in contact today and hopefully will be going on a trip next summer together too! :D

I hope you enjoy the photos and video clips. I felt like I had no fears on this trip, I didn't hold back on doing anything, and I honestly felt like a different person when I came back. I want to live life without fear and not be scared of doing anything, but that's easier said than done, right? Let's dive into this un-BELIZE-able trip.

Saturday, August 5, 2017
Our first day consisted of all of our flights down to Belize and the Welcome dinner. 
My flights weren't bad at all and I actually met up with some of the other people from the tour group before my second flight. It was nice to meet some others before we met the whole group of 42. 

Sunday, August 6th
Day two consisted of a speed boat ride to the first of the ruins we would see, the Lamanai Ruins. They were really cool. We hiked to the top of two of them, by the third one, we were all tired. It was such a gorgeous view from the top of the High Temple.
After dinner, we went out on an Alligator hunt. The tour guides caught a baby alligator and we all got to hold it! 

Snake cactus climbing the trees over the river

Our AMAZING tour guide, Jewel. She was definitely a diamond in the rough.

Monday, August 7th
When we woke up on Monday, it was pouring down rain and Tropical Storm Franklin was headed straight towards us. Jewel, our tour guide, spent hours trying to get ahold of EF to try to figure out a new plan for us, we were supposed to be heading for the beach. They finally responded and decided to change up our itinerary. We headed inland for a few days. 
Our first stop headed inland towards San Ignacio was a monkey sanctuary. The sanctuary housed howler monkeys. We got to hear them howl, but since it was raining, they wouldn't come down from the trees.
Our second stop was to go zip lining and cave tubing. While I was zip lining, they told me not to brake because I'm so light. It was kind of scary spinning and not slowing down before the guys caught me at the end. At the end of our cave tubing, I asked the tour guide to show us where we could go cliff jumping. It was only about a 15 foot jump, it was so scary at first but so much fun!

Tuesday, August 8th
Tuesday we headed to Tikal, Guatemala. How cool is it to take a day trip to a different country? We hiked around Tikal National Park. We climbed a short pyramid, a really tall one that had an amazing view, and walked around the community center for Lord Chocolate. 
I also tried my very first steak in Guatemala. It was thin and they put different spices on it than we do here in America, but it was still really good! I have yet to try one in America...

That point up there is where we climbed to the top of.

The picture on the right is of our Log Cab-Inn

Wednesday, August 9th
Wednesday was a complete travel day to San Pedro. We spent hours on a bus and hours on a water taxi. Even though we didn't do anything, it was exhausting. Once we got to San Pedro, one of my fellow tour-mates, Melissa, asked if anybody wanted to go parasailing with her. I've never been so I decided to go! It was slow and calm and very pretty once we got up there but I might have freaked out a little before we went up. I'm not scared of heights, I'm scared of the harnesses and robes that are holding us... but it was fun and ended up not being scary at all.

Thursday, August 10th
Thursday morning, we got up and decided to rent a golf cart and drive up the coast to a bar that had swings in the ocean. We took turns driving. While I was driving, a cop pulled us over. She asked to see my ID because I looked too young to be driving.... Now I can say that I've been pulled over in Belize... I don't know if that's a good thing or not haha.
After visiting the Dive Bar and having a Mimosa for breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to meet the group and go snorkeling. This was my first time snorkeling and it was amazing to see all of the wildlife in the ocean. We saw puffer fish, sword fish, coral, a barracuda, divers, and a nurse shark. We were out for four hours total and I got sun burnt in places that I've never gotten sun burnt before... 

Friday, August 11th
Friday was another travel day to Hopkins. Another few hours spent on the water ferry and another few hours spent on the tour bus. We made a quick stop at the Belize sign and I got my girls to do O-H-I-O with me. You have to represent your home while you're away! Once we got to the resort we didn't really do anything besides lay around and take in the beautiful scenery. We also got lucky enough to get the Penthouse because we might have been the best roommate group, we didn't cause any problems while we were there.

Saturday, August 12th
Saturday was Ally's birthday! We decided to get up and watch the sunrise. It was beautiful! Then we spent the day in Placencia. A cute little town with a gorgeous calm beach. When we got back, we spent the evening in the hotel's infinity pool and hot tub. 

Sunday, August 13th
Sunday was the second snorkeling day of the trip. I snorkeled on the first part of the day, then we stopped at this little island for some snacks and about half of us stayed behind for the second half. The little island didn't have any shade and I didn't reapply my sunscreen and I got toasted. I was already sun burnt from the last day of snorkeling, then I got this on top of that. I honestly think I might have gotten sun poisoning. Jewel threw together a beach party/cookout for us after snorkeling. They had amazing cooked food, a dj, beach volleyball, and we even got a visit from a girls dance team that was practicing for their celebration that was coming up. I left the cookout early because I felt terrible. I spent a long time in the bathroom getting sick, I felt lightheaded, and my body was burning, it sucked. I went to bed super early that night just to try to ease the pain of the sunburn.

Photo by the amazing Sha Akhtar (IG: @shyshy_photography)

Photo by the amazing Sha Akhtar (IG: @shyshy_photography)

Photo by the awesome Keshia Francis (IG: @key_2my_art

Monday, August 14th
Monday we headed back to Belize City for our final day. As soon as we got to the hotel, Ally, Amy, and I grabbed a taxi and headed to the Belize sign again. We wanted separate pictures on it. I decided to climb on the 'B' for 'Brittany' and I had to dot the 'I' for my Buckeyes. Then we asked our taxi driver to take a few pictures of all three of us. They actually had another version of the sign on the other side of town that he took us to and we saw the only lighthouse that we saw all trip. 
We got back just as the "goodbye dinner" was starting so we didn't have a chance to change. I was very under-dressed. It was sad having one last meal with everyone. It's crazy how good of friends you can become with people after just a few days. We got pictures with each other and a few with our Jewel. 
I honestly have to rave about Jewel for a minute. She was absolutely amazing. Our tour group consisted of a lot of unnecessary drama and bull crap and she handled it very well. She also handled the Tropical Storm problem with ease. Even though she almost made me cry in Guatemala, she was still the best tour guide that I have ever had in all my travels.

Tuesday, August 15th
Tuesday was our travel day back home. We all went to the airport together and it was so sad saying our final goodbyes to everyone as we bordered our separate flights. Luckily Ally and Amy were on my flight back to Atlanta so we got to have one last meal together at the airport before we left each other. I'm so happy to have met them! 

Overall this trip was amazing. Belize and Guatemala are both gorgeous and incredibly punny, which is perfect for me. You better "Belize" that I had a great time. Ha. I made a few new close friends and got to visit somewhere new. I worked up the courage to go on a trip with 40 people that I didn't know and it was so worth it. I highly recommend visiting Belize!